Digital Black and White Vision and Printing Hands-on Workshop

Explore and learn to finesse the art of black and white photography and printing in the digital age with classical landscape photographer and digital photo pioneer Stephen Johnson. Stephen comes from the world of large-format black and white photography and has spent years in the darkroom while helping to develop some of the techniques used in high-quality digital photography technology today.

All ink and premium paper supplied with dedicated instruction and a great atmosphere. This Workshop is limited to 6 people (all students get special attention and their own printer).

Topics Include

Black and white printing modes

Special printing drivers

RIPs for black and white

Special ink sets

Traditional looks and new looks

Fine art and traditional papers

Selective conversion

Tone and beauty

More About the Workshop

Stephen has been deeply involved in the development of techniques for the digital photography world we now live and work in. His fundamental premise is that these new digital tools and materials should be equal to or surpass traditional methods. Digital black and white photography of superb quality has arrived, and in the last decade black and white digital printing risen to beautiful heights.

In this workshop, you will explore the black and white capabilities of modern printers and their controls, subtle nuances of tonal and image tint, the glow of traditional looks and the drama of completely new ways of seeing black and white. Our available printers include HP, Canon, and Epson, all with dedicated black and white workflows and black plus gray inks.

Stephen has maintained his deep love of black and white photography while leading the transition into digital photography. His first digital black and white work dates back to 1992 with the Kodak DCS 200, the original Leaf Hasselblad back and later the BetterLight Scanning Back, Kodak dedicated B&W cameras and the Foveon X-3 B&W mode. Stephen’s use of custom Iris inks, gray inks for Epson printers and development work on the HP Z series black and white modes show a long-term interest in bringing digital B&W into the mainstream digital world. This is why one of Stephen’s black and white photographs was the first digitally derived print offered by Friends of Photography on their print collector program in 1995.

The workshop’s discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on projects will include conversion from color files to black & white, using filtered color for traditional tonal effects and duotone controls for tonal tuning.

Printing: The workshop will cover many black and white printing options and papers in detail, including the new gelatin-silver look papers which Steve lobbied the industry to develop for many years.

This workshop will be a first-class hands-on experience for lovers of black and white photography. Groups are very small (max of 6) so that every student can get special attention. Do join us. It will be very informative, and most of all, fun.

Testimonies

"Stephen's deep understanding of the technical, combined with his incredible artistic sensitivity is such a benefit to his students. The knowledge and understanding I gained in his digital printing class left me feeling much better equipped to make the choices necessary to elevate my own printing."